As we remember the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 and 9 respectively, we come to the shocking realisation that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hand of the Doomsday Clock one minute nearer midnight, just 2.5 minutes away (http://thebulletin.org/current-issue).
The world is in a perilous situation facing multiple ‘Cuban Missile Crises’:
- Nuclear sabre rattling is current on the Korean peninsula with a nuclear armed battle fleet comprising US, Japanese and South Korean warships facing off against nuclear armed North Korea.
- In Kashmir, nuclear armed India and Pakistan flex their muscles.
- The risks of inadvertence in Syria have sharply escalated since Russia and the US have severed relations. Potentially, Russia and the US could inadvertently destroy each other’s military assets.
- Israel, with maybe 200 nuclear weapons, is talking up an attack on Iran.
- The US/NATO encirclement of Russia and China with ‘in your face’ war games right on their borders.
While it is true that the global nuclear arsenal has shrunk dramatically since the 1980s more countries are nuclear armed and nukes are now usable, so that their distinction from conventional weapons is now very blurred.
Technology has enabled a shift from MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) to NUTS (Nuclear Use Tactics)!
There are no marches or events planned for Hiroshima Day in Byron shire but we can all respond to the call to action here: (http://mailchi.mp/unfoldzero/action-ideas-for-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-days?e=e0d924fb78)
Gareth W R Smith, Palestine Liberation Centre, Byron Bay